Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)

Ready to get your CNA?

• We are excited to offer a selection of two Nursing Assistant curriculum options, depending on your wants and needs. SCTCC offers the Healthcare Core Curriculum (HCCC 1415 – 1425 - 1480) and the HLTH 1402 Nursing Assistant courses. Depending on changing Minnesota COVID19 data, portions of either NA curriculum (including clinical) may be completed by distance or with masks and social distancing by approval of the Minnesota Department of Health.
• A new course offering if HLTH 1490, a 16 hour refresher course which reviews all the NA curriculum skills and helps students prepare for the skills portion of the state test for certification on the registry.
• So what’s the difference between the HCCC and HLTH curriculum?
  • HCCC is the Healthcare Core Curriculum option for a total of 6 credits and involves a total of 128 hours. There are three HCCC courses of 2 credits each in the HCCC series.
    • The first two courses of the HCCC curriculum involves 7 modules for 2 credits/32 hours each, which is the theory/lecture portion of the Nursing Assistant content and is taught completely synchronously online; all modules need to be taken (lectures are recorded).
    • The last course of the HCCC curriculum includes the Nursing Assistant lab and clinical and is a 2 credit/64 hour course, and includes supervised laboratory and clinical settings which may be taught by distance education or face-to-face with masks and social distancing.
• The first two courses of the HCCC series (1415 – 1425) is sufficient to earn the rubric points associated with Nursing Assistant for application to the Sonography, Surgical Technology and Cardiovascular programs.
• The full HCCC series (1415, 1425, and 1480) meets the Nursing Assistant prerequisite requirement for application to the Practical Nursing program.
• The Federal and State OBRA laws and Minnesota Department of Health requirements are met in the full HCCC 6 credit curriculum (HCCC 1415, 1425, and 1480).
• The HLTH 1402 curriculum is designed to be taken as quickly as possible to test for the state examination, get on the registry, and enter the world of work as a nursing assistant. It involves a total of 80 hours.
  • The first portion of the HLTH course is classroom/theory (16 hours).
  • The second portion of the HLTH course is lab/clinical with 40 (of 64 hours) in the lab; all the unit quizzes, tests, practice skills and return demonstration are during theory and lab.
  • The final portion of the HLTH course is clinical (24 hours) at a long term care facility (or during COVID19 possibly by distance learning or face-to-face with masks and social distancing); students demonstrate 21 of 60 vital skills during the clinical.
• The full HLTH 1402 course meets the Nursing Assistant prerequisite requirement for application to the Practical Nursing program.
• The full HLTH 1402 course is sufficient to earn the rubric points associated with Nursing Assistant for application to the Sonography, Surgical Technology and Cardiovascular programs.
• The Federal and State OBRA laws and Minnesota Department of Health requirements are met in the HLTH 1402 3 credit curriculum.
• Course schedules can be found by clicking "Quick Links" and "Course Schedule".

Ready to Register

• If you're already an SCTCC or Minnesota State student, please register in eServices. 
  • For HCCC option, search Healthcare Core Curriculum (HCCC) 1415, 1425, 1480. All three courses may be taken in the same semester, but 1415 and 1425 are prerequisites to 1480.
  • For HLTH option, search for HLTH 1402.
  • If you're not already an SCTCC or Minnesota State student, you can register as a Visiting Student.
• There are two options for registering as a Visiting Student:
  • Option 1: Call 320-308-5075 to register as a Visiting Student. 
  • Option 2: Follow the steps on the Visiting Students page to register as a Visiting Student.

US DOE Requirement for NA Programs 

Certification Exam

When you have completed the NA training, you can take the certification exam right here at SCTCC. Information and online registration is through SCTCC’s Customized Training Department.